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Balance of Power
The Known Worlds can be a grim universe; humanity considers itself ascendent over sentient alien species and yet humanity is deeply divided. The Nobles own the majority of land and property on planets, from which they maintain their often vast fortunes. The common person lives as little more than a medieval serf, working their Lord's lands in return for tenancy. Living conditions vary greatly from mud huts on frontier worlds to sprawling metropoli on the capital wordls such as Byzantium Secundus. Nobles maintain private armies, vast estates and private fleet's of starships. They live in wealth and opulence few commoners will ever experience. The most prominant Noble is Alexius Hawkwood, but he is also the Emperor of the Known Worlds and has become a faction unto himself. The prime powers of the Nobles are the Five Princes, each the head of the last enduring Major Houses. If the Nobles claim the lands then the Church of the Celestial Sun claims the commoner's soul; for they are the eventual victors of millennia of conflict between religious groups. Combining aspects of nearly all the great faiths of Urth, the ancestral home of all humanity, the Church exerts powerful influence and control over every day life. Even the Nobles must acquiesce to the Church's authority in spiritual matters lest they face rebellion from their subjects who may come to believe their liege is any of the many forms of abomination. The Church controls several significant worlds and their abundant wealth, not the least being Holy Terra, they maintain a fleet to rival even the largest single Noble amada, sponsor various military orders and they keep a leash upon the Temple Avesti and the even more frightening Inquisition. The Freemen and Freewomen of the Merchant Guilds maintain control of the the technology of the Known Worlds. A Noble might afford you a place to live and work, a Priest might save your soul but if you need an item made, repaired or maintained then there is at least one Merchant Guild you have to deal with. The Guilds guard their knowledge jealously, going so far as to enforce the secrecy of their knowledge. From forging steel tools to piloting a starship through Jump Gates, there is a specialist Guild that considers the knowldge of their field sacred and inviolate. Noble, Church or Emperor have limited knowledge concerning how the tools that make their daily lives possible actual work and the Merchant Guild keeps it that way. Ruled by the Leaguemeister and the Deans of the Five Major Guilds, the Merchant League controls several worlds and a vast fleet of various classes of ships, the largest assembly by number in the Known Worlds. The Phoenix Throne, Emperor Alexius Hawkwood gained support of the Five Houses, the Patriarch of the Church of the Celestial Sun and the Leaguemeister and put an end to the Emperor Wars. This is the simple explanation and things are usually far from simple when it comes to politics in the Known Worlds. Commanding the loyalty of many, incurring the hatred of of some and enduring the unending plots that surround the Imperial Throne, Alexius is both powerful and beset on all sides. Controlling several worlds directly, and technically all Known Worlds by virtue of his office, he commands the elite Phoenix Guard, controls a large fleet the rival of many Noble Houses, is served by network of various intelliegence agencies and basks in the radiance of being the first Emperor in four and a half centuries.